Ponyfall! Retake Equestria!

by neorenamon

The gray D.I.S.C.O.R.D. dropship finally settled down on the Cloppacabana landing pad. It seemed like forever since Twilight left the Lunar Colony on the Brahma Transport, travelled all the way across space and were dropped off with other Mare-Es Mercenaries for their first assignments in the cleared around around the Cloppacabana Zone.

She looked around to a place she only saw in pictures before. It was a place of high technology covered under a layer of the primitive and dirty. One might of mistaken the place for an ancient tropical resort town. Thatch roofs on top of concrete walled buildings. The towering SIN Tower that kept the chaos at bay. Metal bridges over compacted dirt roads. A handful of wrecked buildings standing out like sore thumbs among the buildings that remain.

Turning around, she looked at the squad following behind her. Other than their brief training together, they were all but strangers. Each one shone in the sun in the almost new battleframes. She wondered if they would respect her authority.

"HOWDY LITTLE SISTER!!" called a pony that made Twilight spin about again.

A large red Earth pony stallion was advancing on them quickly. He was buff and ruggedly handsome in his own way. But he only seemed to have eyes for Applejack.

"HEYA BIG BROTHER!" Applejack called back as she watched him come up.

They rushed forward to hug each other.

"Y'all have a good trip down from the moon an all?!" he asked excitedly.

"It weren't nothing to write home about," she replied evenly, "but we got down here in one piece."

Twilight cleared her throat.

"Oh pardon me," she said as if she just remembered the others were there, "This here is my big brother Big Macintosh." She put her arm about his shoulders as she turned to look back at the rest of her squad. "I want ya to meet my squad," she said to her brother, "This is Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie."

"Howdy."

But Twilight was looking at the HUD from her arm computer. Judging by her expression, she didn't seem happy about something.

"What's wrong there sugarcube?"

"I just got a message saying that Arabya have destroyed the Mare-Es Barracks," she replied, "We have no where to stay until they fix it."

"Don't you worry about that," he replied, "We got plenty of room on the farm outsida town in the bunkhouse fer the hired help. Considerin that all of the hired help ran away after the last Hooven attack, there's plenty of room there."

"Feelin chatty there, big brother?" asked Applejack.

"E-yup."

Suddenly their comms spoke up. "Greetings," said a mare's voice, "I am called Aero Smith. Your Mare-Es operator for your operations while you're in Equestria. I shall handle your missions and take care of your payments for you."

"Pleased ta meet ya," replied Applejack over her own comm.

"The DISCORD has a mission request for you..."

"But we all just got here," complained Applejack.

"That's alright," replied Twilight, "What is the mission?"

"We have a report of mission civilians," she replied, "Three missing fillies. We need you to go out and find them... or find their remains."

"That all sounds cheery," said Applejack.

"But realistic," replied Rarity.

"I hope there's going to be a fight," said Rainbow Dash.

"I'm sure I don't want a fight," replied Fluttershy quietly.

"We can't take back the world without combat!"

"Maybe so, maybe not."

"Do these missing fillies have names?"

"According to the report I have," replied Aero, "the missing fillies are called..." There was a pause as she was no doubt reading another screen. "Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle."

"WHAT?!" asked Applejack, Big Macintosh and Rarity in once voice.

"Big brother," said Applejack, "I thought you were supposed to be keepin an eye on Apple Bloom."

"But... but..." he replied, "I left her back at the house with her little friends an all. They didn't say nuthin bout goin out."

"Stay calm," replied Twilight, "As long as they're carrying their SIN tags, the D.I.S.C.O.R.D. satellites can track them. All we need is for Aero to enter their SIN numbers and have them found."

"Working on that even as we speak," replied Aero. A few seconds passed before she said, "I read their signals 300 meters from you in a north-eastern direction. The report is recent so there's a decent chance that... uh..."

"We know," she answered as she looked about, "Prepare for immediate deployment." She turned to Applejack and said, "Even if he's family, the civilian has to stay behind. He'll just get in the way and we can't cover him as well as the fillies."

"But ah gots mah trusty shotgun..."

"She's right big brother," said Applejack as she put a hand on his shoulder, "Ah swear I'll do everyhin I can to bring Apple Bloom and her friends back."

"But..."

"Just go home and we'll meet ya there... with the fillies."

Twilight added, "I promise we'll do everything we can to make sure they come back safe and as sound as possible."

"Oh... Okay..."

Twilight and the others engaged their jump jets as they streaked away over the buildings towards the shoreline.